Top Facts:

1. Every single day, 70 million tons of carbon dioxide is released into our world’s atmosphere. That’s 1.4 billion pounds – yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every single day. 2. The warmest years on record have been in the past 10 out of 12 years. Since record-keeping began in 1880, the planet’s 10 hottest years were all in your lifetime, between 1997 and 2008. (So yes, it probably did snow more when you were a kid.) 3. 2008 saw the second-lowest summer Arctic sea ice ever recorded since satellites began keeping track in 1979, at 1.74 million square miles. This is 860,000 square miles below the average minimum seen in the summers from 1979 to 2000. (Summer 2007 saw the lowest levels ever recorded, at 1.65 million square miles). 4. Ships for the first time can sail along the Northwest Passage above North America. Once a fabled passageway, melting Arctic ice from global warming has let this route become a reality for the first time in over 100 years. 5. Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2040 or sooner, decades ahead of previous estimates. As this ice “mirror” that reflects sunlight back into space disappears, the effects of global warming will increase as the oceans absorb more of the sun’s heat. This melting ice will cause polar bears and other species to lose their icy habitat and eventually become extinct. 6. 82% of glaciers have disappeared in Glacier National Park, Montana. Today this beautiful park has only 27 glaciers, compared with 150 in 1910. 7. 500,000 cubic miles of ice would be lost if either of the rapidly melting ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica completely melted. Dumping this much freshwater into the ocean would be catastrophic not only to low-lying areas, but it would also mess up the ocean’s complicated currents. 8. 20 million tons of ice per day is lost by only one of the glaciers in Greenland. The ice melting from Greenland’s glaciers has more than doubled over the past decade, adding to the dangerous rise in sea levels. For those living in New York City – this amount lost per day is equal to the amount of water you and your Big Apple neighbors use for an entire year. 9. Over a hundred million people will be displaced by just a 1-yard rise in sea levels. Many scientists predict that the oceans will rise at least this much by 2100. As more and more freshwater melts into the sea, this could greatly disrupt the ocean’s vital currents and, ironically, even bring a mini-Ice Age to Europe.10. deforestation is a part of global warming and it had destroyed over 20 billion trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11. Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.

12. Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.

13. Sea level rise became faster over the last century.

14. Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

15. Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.

16. Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.

17. Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.

18. Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).

19. Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.

20. Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.

21. Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.

22. Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.

23. Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.

24. Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct.

25. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.